ROCKFORD - For many, entry-level work is something to be endured instead of enjoyed.

For Rockford's 43-year-old Keith Phillips, his position as a line server at Old Country Buffet is something to be celebrated.

Phillips spent nearly eight months of 2012 out of work, cutting grass, raking leaves and then shoveling snow to get by.

Married in 2011, Phillips and his wife, Anita, who works at a doctor's office, were forced to choose between buying gasoline for their one working vehicle or paying for Internet service so Keith could spend more focused time searching for work.

They chose the Internet - and it paid off.

"When Old Country Buffet called and offered me a job I was just so grateful," said Phillips, who was aided in his job search by Rock River Training Corp. "It's allowing me to help put food on our table and buy Christmas presents."

When economists look back on 2013 the consensus will be that it wasn't the greatest year in the not-so-great-recovery from the Great Recession.

In the Rockford area, the unemployment rate at the end of October was still 10.5 percent for Boone and Winnebago counties while the state rate was 8.3 percent. In fact, the jobless rate here has been 10 percent or higher in 57 of the 59 months since November 2008.

If you are one of those who remain outside the employment world looking in then the economic recovery probably doesn't feel like a recovery at all.

Phillips has a message for those and that's to just keep trying.

"I was up for six, seven jobs and I didn't get any and it would have been easy to give up," Phillips said. "I just kept going, doing what I could to make money some way."

"There were some people who'd say I was a grown man and I shouldn't be cutting lawns," Phillips said. "But a man has to do what he can for his family and these people blessed me by giving me work to do when I needed it."

Phillips says he still visits one of his former customers, an elderly woman, regularly to help her maintain her house.

Phillips and his family have more reasons to be grateful. Six weeks ago Anita had a baby girl, Nyharia, to go along with son, Wesley, 13, and Keinetta, 10.

"I'm not going to stand still," said Phillips, who was hired nearly 11 months ago. "I'm entry level now, but I can become the general manager. I want to eventually get my associate's and my bachelor's degree. It's up to me."

Michelle Louthain, kitchen manager for Old Country Buffet, said his enthusiasm is no act. He's as cheerful at work as he is being interviewed.

Page 2 of 2 - "He has this motto. I ask how he's doing and he'll say 'it's good and if it isn't whose fault is it?' I'll say 'yours' and he'll say 'that's right,' Louthain said. "Keith definitely is a hard worker. And if becoming (general manager) is his goal he could work his way up to it."